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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24276571">ventus</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterreign/pseuds/afterreign'>afterreign</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Vocaloid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, One-Sided Attraction</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:41:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24276571</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterreign/pseuds/afterreign</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A tree, a mage, and the element of wind.</p><p>(alternatively: That familiar feeling of nothingness can sometimes be blown away. Kaito witnesses this firsthand when a particular brunette graces him with her presence.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kaito/Meiko (Vocaloid)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>ventus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlakeFarron/gifts">BlakeFarron</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>... who's been waiting for this story for ages.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hello again,” is the silent greeting that fails to pass his lips—but of course, it’s not like he’s ever had any. A human privilege, he supposes. He has no mouth to shout, scream, or sing from. No words to leave him and be heard by the world. It’s all wind in the end, and he’s only bark and leaves and roots deep underneath the dark soil.</p><p>But that is the very reason why he stands tall, thick moss collecting at his sides and luminescent mushrooms growing around sturdy roots. It’s the reason why a particular mage, scars and all, can pad her way up to him and lean on his trunk.</p><p>This is exactly what happens before the sun sets, a glaring reminder that the day is nearly over and that night will rise again. The mage, however, does not seem to particularly mind, and if she does, she takes care not to show it. Crossing her legs, the brunette settles in her usual spot, he as the support and the green grass as the cushion. She smooths out her cloak before placing a tender hand on one of his roots.</p><p>“Kaito,” she murmurs.</p><p>And oh, what a contradictory name she gave him. <em> Kaito</em>. The sea, the ocean. To soar and to fly. Yet here, he remains stuck. Unmoving.</p><p>Still, it’s his name and his name alone, and like how spring flowers die and bloom again, he accepts it.</p><p>It takes only a few moments until the mage spills her worries. New spells she can’t seem to master, long scrolls she’s forced to decipher despite her growing fatigue. Human customs are beyond Kaito’s understanding, but wherever one goes, magic is magic.</p><p>Fire is especially the most difficult for her, and how truly odd that is; the mage is certainly passionate, an unextinguished flame in the calm of the enchanted forest. Her searing gaze, her hot skin. She should be made for the element—no, the element is made for <em>her</em>, and yet no lick of fire unfurls above her fingertips.</p><p>Her voice soon softens when she mentions her juniors. There are quite a few—Miku, Rin, and Len are the first names Kaito recalls despite remaining ignorant of the speaker who tells him—and more come in surplus amounts.</p><p>She talks. Of their talents, their youth, their glimmering future. Their prying eyes and expectant gazes and the naive <em>won’t you teach me? Won’t you tell me what to do? </em></p><p>The cracks fester, and Kaito cannot do anything.</p><p>Kaito cannot do anything, and the mage is slumped against him, crying in a way that is slow and aching. Her eyes are squeezed shut, and her fingers find their way to press against her temple, hard. It’s the sensation when one wrings their robe after a rainy day yet barely any water seeps out.</p><p>Kaito cannot do anything, and he resents it. Resents that he is not of soft skin but of hard, almost impenetrable wood. That he does not have arms to reach for human touch but thin branches forever outstretched to the stars.</p><p>Kaito cannot do anything, but the wind can, and it blows an unassuming leaf in the mage’s direction.</p><p>The leaf, sapphire in shade, flutters downwards, gravity as its guide. Soon, the mage’s gaze is locked on it, irises tracking its path. Her hand reaches out and stops just short of snatching the leaf from its slow descent. A breathless silence settles over him and her, like they’re the only two living creatures in the world, and then—</p><p>“<em>Ventus</em>.”</p><p>A gust of cool wind blossoms from the quivering hand of the mage. Immediately, the leaf shoots up back into the air, twirling and spinning. It’s flying, and it’s <em>free</em>, an iridescent blue against a cloudless, tangerine sky.</p><p>At last, the cracks have sealed themselves shut. Joyous laughter tumbles out of the mage’s throat as if they both just witnessed a miracle. And perhaps they have, Kaito thinks. He notes her lit up eyes, the pleasant spunkiness back in her system.</p><p>With a watchful eye on the ascending leaf, a grin nearly splits the mage’s face in two, her cheekbones high and defined, and the thought of miracles is above tangible.</p><p>The mage gently pats down a tree root once the leaf is out of sight, engulfed by orange hues. “Thank you,” she says after a beat, tone warm.</p><p>It is undeserving in every way but spoken. Because when the mage finally gathers her strength and leaves for the day, a routine he is grown fondly accustomed over, all Kaito can do is watch her disappear into the forest, swallowed by the thick of foliage and flowers. There is no way to reject her words of gratitude dripping with sincerity or to offer her comfort when responsibilities become too much to bear.</p><p>Kaito cannot do anything, and he knows this, the fact ingrained in his very being. He is the opposite of action. <em> Change</em>. As long as the forest breathes, he will stay rooted in the same place, basking in the same sunshine.</p><p>But.</p><p>For the time he is here, stagnant and all, Kaito is nothing but willing to wait for a familiar mage to stroll on by, fire in her heart and wind at the palm of her hand. And with a silent voice, he will always greet her once more:</p><p>“Hello again.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tldr; kaito is a tree (with blue leaves!) residing in an enchanted forest, and meiko is a mage under constant pressure. unbeknownst to the latter, kaito is in love with her and detests the fact that he cannot do anything for her.</p><p>beta: <a href="https://twitter.com/cheatertrope">swan</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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